Bred: Organization XIII
by TheWingedOne
Summary: We had been bred like this. It was hard to believe that it was even possible. Now, there's only one thing left for us now: freedom. //Major AU. Prologue is more of general but needed information than not.\\
1. Prologue

**First AU fic. Go me.**

**Hope I didn't copy anything... already made, that is, from somewhere from the sixth dimension. **

**If I owned KH, Roxas would have gone to Atlantica and the Pride Lands in 358/2 Days. Then I would have stuck the KH characters in a world where they grew wings. e_e**

**This is actually just the prologue. And the prologue sucks, believe me. Or maybe that's just me worrying. Next chapter should be better... oh, wait. The second chapter is a bit weird too, but the third is better than both... in my opinion. Whatever!  
**

**Axel and Demyx's attributes are bothering me. A lot.**

**...oh well.**

**I'll shut up now; enjoy the actual story~  
**

**

* * *

  
**

We had been bred like this.

It was hard to believe that this was even possible. Humans cloned from other humans, but tinkered with. Played with like genetic toys. Samples.

Hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of failures. Decades, perhaps centuries of research.

It was only throughout the last few decades did they manage to keep their specimens alive, for over six hours, that is. With mishmashes of different animal DNA, they had them grown. Tested them. Poked and prodded them to no end. Let them border on the edge of insanity... but not quite over that border, since they were the first to live, and they couldn't afford to have them harmed.

They were us.

Unknown. Others. Beasts. Clones. Test subjects. Nothings.

Nobodies.

There were twenty of us. Six died. None of the living remembered them, the dead, later on. We were all too young, and the eldest were mind-wiped from their knowledge through the stress of testing.

Then they made her. The second- no, the third girl. She was, somehow, different... so they gave her a different name as well. 'No. I', wasn't it...?

We doubted they were going to make more 'No.'s. The grimace in their faces as they stared at her showed that her way in being different wasn't exactly up to their standards. Maybe it was because she was still sitting around like a dumb doll, not doing anything, staring, emotionless... and she didn't react to anything, even after her first week. _All_ of us _always_ started acting with a taste of our own minds by the first week, at the least.

But, nah.

Us and our little mashes of DNA were tested day and night, anyways, regardless.

Speaking of that...

--

There are fourteen... fifteen if you count the doll.

If you don't want to bother reading all these profiles, it's easy to skip, but it'll be harder to understand later on. Probably... really hard.

Our Somebody's memories come back to us, slowly, by the beginning of our birth. Our 'birth' actually has us mature to our Somebody's age, whatever it was, before we are left to interact with the new world. The older we are at our birth, the faster our memories return. Not that... they were really our memories in the first place.

**I** is Xehanort. For some reason he calls himself Ansem. Probably has to do with his memories. Traditionally the experiments here reformed their names with an 'X'. So, he is now called **Xemnas**. Did we mention that we gave ourselves titles, as well? His is 'The Leader of the Fissure'. You could say that he's our 'leader'. He was the first of us, and the weirdest... or you could just say most mysterious. Whatever you want. But, he's pretty indifferent and disconnected when it comes to his plans... not that experiments could really have plans for their futures. That was up to the scientists. Anyways, we really don't have a good thought of his animal DNA. Wolf? Cat? He _did_ have orange eyes. Hawk? That would fit his eyes and his gray-white hair. Other than that, he doesn't have any other noticeable animal attributes.

**II** is **Xigbar**. Braig, we think his true name is. He's the one with the strange sense of humor. He would be the Freeshooter. He has a tendency of flying upside down and backwards. Yes, flying. We think he has bat and hummingbird DNA. He possesses large black bat wings, and is blind in the right eye. Maybe he didn't have that eye, instead of being blind in it. We don't know how he got it, but he wears a black eye patch to cover the eye. Though, for some other reason, he has perfect vision in the other eye. Huh.

**III** is... well, not all that friendly. He's even more indifferent than Xemnas. He is the nobody of Dilan. His anagram name would be **Xaldin**. His title is the 'Whirlwind Lancer'. There's Komodo Dragon, hawk, and eagle DNA in him... perhaps more, but who knows about us more than the scientists? Anyways, he's basically the master of wind. Him and his quiet, 'angry' (kind of) self has brown-black bird wings.

**IV** would be the Chilly Academic, **Vexen**. He used to 'be' Even. His DNA is fitted perfectly for an icy environment, and all other DNA concluded his extreme level of intelligence. However, he feels quite disrespected among us... heh. Nobody can have everything, huh? Anyways, he is thick-skinned, with the DNA of a parrot, yak, with the anti-freeze gene of fish with him, as well as whale, arctic fox and arctic owl. He has quite a lot of DNA with him, but other than his thick skin (that earlier comment was literal), he looks not much different from a normal human... or of what we remember what a human was.

**V** is the Silent Hero. Aeleus, or **Lexaeus** is a being of the earth, the heaviest and yet the quietest of us. We hardly know much about him, other than those facts and of his DNA. He is part snake, elephant, bear, and whatever else you can think of that possesses immense strength. You can see brown bear ears poking out of his hair, but you have to pay extreme attention to that or you won't spot them.

**VI** is Ienzo, in other terms,** Zexion**. He would be the Cloaked Schemer. He has a thing for scents, and for reading books that are given to him. He's part bug, part wolf. Other than silver-blue hair and antennae that can easily, though uncomfortably, be hidden in his hair, he looks... pretty normal. That and the four bug wings he keeps hanging down.

**VII** is** Saix**, Aïs. At least we think his name is Aïs. Could be something else for the Luna Divider. He is a wolf. Nothing else. Nada. Probably the only experiment with only one DNA alteration, other than Namine. But with one dose, comes a lot of it. He's usually calm, but goes with the moon... in other words, don't get near him under the light of the full moon. (Not that we ever get to see the moon at all. We just remember it.) He has silver wolf ears poking out of his blue hair, with an X-scar on his face, as well as a bushy tail of the same color.

**VIII**- **Axel**! Lea, pronounced_ Lee_, thank you very much. The Flurry of Dancing Flames certainly is a flurry of dancing flames. The scientists gave him electric eel DNA, then kicked that power up a few notches... it ended up giving him fire power instead of powerful electricity. In their terms, that was an accidental, yet wonderful success, but also a downfall. But it doesn't mean that they like to put up with his sarcastic attitude. That and with red fox DNA, he has fox ears and a tail. With that, his lion DNA doesn't serve him anything.

**IX** would be **Demyx**. Even though the Melodious Nocturne is an open book, no one can figure out his true name. His sole purpose is being water boy. Not in college football, thank you very much. His DNA consists of all water creatures- dolphin, fish, whale, otter... whatever else. He can turn his legs into a tail. The water just does that to him, when he enters it. That ability gives him the title of 'most non-biologically sensible experiment'. Not that he likes that. Anyways, he hates to fight, but loves music and is given music lessons... probably because he's the only one knowing how to strum a sitar. He says it comes from his past life. Who knows...

**X**, the Gambler of Fate, would be **Luxord**, his true name unknown. Suggested by his title, he used to be a card dealer in his past life. No one really knows his animal DNA alteration, but he's quick and wily, so that might give you a suggestion.

**XI.** **Marluxia**, real name unknown, is the Graceful Assassin. He's part flower. Seriously. Only that would explain the thousands of petals he manages to whip around every day. It wasn't like he got them from outside. He's only let out in a cage, during mealtime, to soak up food from the sun. That, and he has bee DNA. At least, they recently gave him bee DNA, through a new program of injecting DNA. The scientists gave him it, that is. We don't know what it's going to do to him.

**XII **is the Savage Nymph** Larxene**. She has some kind of bug's DNA, along with lioness, wolverine, and electric eel. The scientists made her to use electricity and not fire like Axel, so they kicked the electric eel power down a notch compared to Axel and made her. Trouble is, they didn't know they were making a girl. All of the girls here were different or mistakes... well, she wasn't as much. She was still ferocious as a wolverine, with retractable claws, and with antennae that looked like a couple weird strands of hair. However, she still has a human mind... though a mean one...

**XIII** is probably in a silence contest with Lexaeus. The Key of Destiny never speaks, and hasn't spoken once for his life of two months. His Somebody is unknown even to him. The really weird thing about him is that he doesn't remember a thing. That is, **Roxas**'s past life isn't with him. Anyways, Roxas has golden bird wings, though we can never see them right because they're usually tucked neatly against his back. He also has wolf DNA with him, and perhaps a bit of lion as well. No one has seen him fly, either. Perhaps when he starts talking, Xaldin or Xigbar could give him a few lessons.

That would make up **Organization XIII**, with thirteen members, hence the name. But, for now, we're just thirteen experiments. Thirteen nobodies. Other than those two weird girls...

**Namine** is just as simple as Saix when it comes to DNA. The scientists took a profound interest in her and her dove DNA. That's right- along with her white sundress comes a pair of large white dove wings. She doesn't say anything about her past, or who she is. She never had a chance of getting in with the Organization experiments, because she was always taken away by the scientists... and usually, she's stuck in a white room, drawing her life away (because her drawings were just _sooo_ awesome). We don't know who her somebody is. And she doesn't have an 'X' in her name...

**Xion**, **No. I**, is the doll. Even though she's in that state, we consider her member **XIV**. Kinda. Okay, not really. That number was just a simple thought, for if she would ever wake up from her isolated dream. Though we almost never see her, anyone could see her shiny black bird wings if she ever came in sight. The scientists told us she had wolf and a twinge of lion DNA, like Roxas. Huh.

Those are the fifteen experiments. Were the profiles boring to read? Well, all the stuff coming up next will be much more fun...

But, it wouldn't be surprising if you didn't even get here in your reading.

Most people don't want to hear the truth...


	2. Firsts

**Here goes... my first and second chapters are always a bit weird or sucky, in my opinion. Eh...**

**If I owned Kingdom Hearts, Roxas wouldn't have such a ridiculously sad story. Which means, he wouldn't forget stuff, or he would and he'd remember it later, Xion would come back, he would have bonded with Namine, he would have had Axel tag with him as outcasts from the Organization, he would find out about those wet things on his cheeks and what they meant, he would have met Sora without merging with him, and Sora would awaken and they could go on having adventures together... but not in a sense of being merged together. Or at least it would be happier when they merged. Yes, I put disclaimers on here more because they're fun to write than just for the sake of putting them here.  
**

**I better hurry up, before the A/N is longer than the actual story. ;)**

* * *

__-Day I-__

A young boy of fifteen looked down at his feet, sitting in the corner of his cell. Golden wings concealed his body, as he quietly shifted his knees, so that his left was pulled to his chest instead of his right.

He had woken this morning to this strange puzzle. He knew what it was, though his memories weren't as clear as the others...

His wings twitched as he stared at it a bit more.

_XIII, you will be permitted to breakfast once you solve this,_ the note on his door read.

So he stood, looking at the numbers beneath the letter. It really wasn't much of a puzzle. He just had to punch in the numbers.

He snorted. Who did they think he was?

_An experiment, a nobody_, a voice whispered in his head.

So he sighed, punching in the code with his fingers. _9202120213_. The door flew open, and Roxas flinched. Then he regained his composure, and walked through the passage.

He flinched again. There was _VIII_, the fire subject. What was the name again...?

He smirked. "You're late," he muttered, then walked over, chuckling to himself. Roxas tilted his head after him, marveling over the strange behavior. Then he realized the man's words and scurried after him.

"So," the spiky haired red-head started, "Two months and still no memories, huh?"

Roxas looked at him with curious blue eyes, as if _VIII_ were another species... which he technically was. His golden wings were tucked neatly against his back, yet hiding his face partially. "..."

The older man looked at him curiously, then after a pause, said, "Name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

Roxas paused, then nodded.

Somewhat startled and somewhat pleased by his understanding, Axel nodded back, making his fox ears bob up and down a bit, and went to get a treat of meat, tail flicking behind him.

After parting, Roxas blinked after the fourteen other experiments. There was one, large table, and all of them shared it. Marluxia was outside, the lucky thing, and Xion and Namine were alone at one end of the table. It was dead silent; what was the point of talking, when there was nothing to talk about, and when any secrets were being monitored on high security cameras?

He took a dirty tray and picked up a couple loafs of bread with mold, along with two half-rotted fish. Food here wasn't too good, but it was sufficient enough to live with.

He decided to sit at the middle-end of the table, where no one would bother him. It wasn't because of them that bothered him, he just liked being... a bit alone.

Axel tilted his head at him, but sighed and shoved some meat in his mouth. Somewhere in the room, someone burped, but no one responded.

Xemnas sat next to Saix, who was next to Lexaeus, and so on. Larxene quietly sat alone, like Roxas, and Namine was close to Xion, who stared blankly at her food. The only thing she did on her own was eat, drink and sleep. But that was enough for the scientists not to discard her. But she already ate enough food for her stomach.

Namine shook her head. She was eating like a bird, compared to a human. She should be eating more. If she didn't, she'd get sick. Illness meant no flying...

Saix simply gulped down food as Xemnas studied everybody else's food, not bothering to eat his own.

Roxas hardly finished his food when the testing bell rang. He moaned loudly, but ceased his noise in unison with the bell.

Everyone picked up their trays and dumped them in the garbage, then headed to their testing rooms, each room labeled for their number. Namine was simply escorted.

Roxas sighed, pushing open his door and heading inside the testing room. It was gray, like a cylinder, so high that not even his acute eagle eyes could see through the darkness to the ceiling. Along the way was a few glass windows.

"_Roxas, today we'd like to see you fly,_" a voice echoed through the cylinder.

"But...." he went quiet. There were no 'but's. Not here. So he spread his wings slightly, and flapped them. Wasn't anyone going to teach him how to fly? How could he learn on his own? A memory pricked at him- birds were taught flight when they were still babies. He could imagine himself as a 3-year-old human baby, with wings, flying, couldn't he? Like Cupid, or something?

"_That's it. Go on,_" the voice told him impatiently.

Roxas looked up nervously, then began frantically pedaling his wings.

_"No, no. Get a running start. Jump."_

Roxas blinked at the directions, and started running to the other side of the room. It was very wide, about a quarter mile long if you ran by the wall, seeing as the testing facility was just a bit bigger than a school able to hold two thousand students, including the PE area. But he cleared that quickly, without much difficulty, and jumped.

He fell flat on his face.

He looked up for help, but none came. He tried again, this time spreading his wings to his fullest, jumping much higher... he glided for a few seconds and then fell.

The thrill of flying flooded through him. Spots danced in front of his eyes. Wonderful!

He ran, faster, actually putting a bit more effort in it this time, and pumped his wings, a bit harder. The strain of not using them for two months almost made him collapse to the ground, but Roxas toughed it out. Faster, faster. He was about a foot from the ground, a determined look fixed on his face, and flipped right before he hit the other wall, kicking as hard against it as he could.

He was now flying upside down, and felt thrilled by his quick learning. Perhaps it came from the memories of his golden eagle side that let him learn so fast, and not just himself, but who cared? He was flying!

He flipped right side up, zooming past the windows, several feet from the ground, that the scientists were observing him from, fascinated.

_"Roxas, you can land now."_

He didn't dare land. Not now. It was the one time in his life he actually felt... good. He heard the mutters calculating his speeds, saying that he was even better than Xigbar or Xaldin or Zexion or Namine, saying how quickly he learned...

_"XIII. Land."_

He didn't _want _to land. He glared at the windows, at the person commanding him to land, then stuck out his tongue.

He yelped as a shock traveled through his leg, coming from the rubber-like stun ring (though of course, it wasn't rubber because that was impossible, since electricity couldn't travel through rubber) hanging from his leg. He instantly fell to the ground, wincing and curling up to a ball as he held himself with a low whine.

_"Obey us and less pain will come to you," _the voice said thickly. _"Go to your cell." _The sound of the microphone switching off hurt Roxas's ears, and he whined again, slowly closing his eyes.

But they wouldn't let him rest here. He yelped as a scientist's foot collided with his back, right between his wings, which needed slits cut through his all-black clothes.

"Go to your cell," the voice commanded in person.

Roxas wanted, _so badly_, to tear the man limb by limb, but he held himself back. He stepped out of the room, the door now unlocked, limping. He silently returned to his dull gray cell and sat in the corner, finding himself to be the first finished with testing, and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes for an ounce of sleep.

--

Well, well, well.

He had already known that some of the experiments, Organization XII, now Organization XIII (Because, it _did _fit better), had different things holding them back. Xemnas simply didn't show his alterations. Perhaps he didn't even have a mutation, other than his hair and eye color, so maybe he didn't have anything. Xigbar and Xaldin had chips shocking them if they flew too high, along with everyone else limiting their powers- Larxene only generating static, Demyx not being able to form his tail, Saix not going berserk enough to harm anyone, Lexaeus having limited strength... the list goes on and on.

The only ones he knew with something else, other than chips, were Xion and Roxas. Perhaps Namine, but he didn't get a good look. The only reason why Xion and Roxas didn't have implants yet was because they didn't remember anything- once their memories kicked in, they would think of escape, and then they would have the chips operated in. Right now, they were simply too stupid to figure out that they could free themselves of shocks- but, that wasn't meant to be offensive, since he was the same when he was first 'born'.

For him- the thing that the chip prevented him from doing? He couldn't make flames. Not even static, like Larxene. And he hated it.

...that didn't count during testing, though.

Axel loved and despised testing at the same time. The only glee for his unrelenting fire was during testing, where they shut off his chip. He was free to dance with the flurry of flames... hence his title.

Today, they wanted him to set things on fire. Only a few words for that: Funfunfunfunfun! Okay, that technically wasn't a word, but who cared, really?

He easily sent strong blasts of flames that nearly burned his fingertips at sending them. His blazing emerald eyes reflected, fed off of the flames, and his body burned and flickered with them, until he found himself encased by fire...

...but that wasn't really scary. No, not at all. Who would be scared of the wonderful, intensively beautiful flames? Though his embodied bonfire danced across his skin, it didn't sear it. No, not at all...

Well, well, well. It looked like he now knew how to cover himself with the burning flames... yet also to ward off their licking pain with ease.

He didn't bother looking at the scientists, staring at him and his new-found ability intently. Actually, he didn't dare- he didn't want to ruin the moment. The whole room was ablaze, and he could walk through the beauty without a scratch!

He remembered his, or rather, his whole's mother, warning him of fire. Fire, fire, fire. But even before he loved fire. He gazed at candlelight with eyes dancing to the fire's movements, once lit a hotel with fire and watched it burn to the ground. Of course, he was later punished, and rather harshly as well... but it was still wonderful.

He drowned himself in the heat, twirling, stepping through it without a worry. The black half-diamonds under his skin contrasted with his lighter parts, like with his mischievous green eyes, and he laughed, merrily...

Then water poured down from above.

Why did they do that _every single damned time!?_ At the best moment, at the climax! This was only one of the reasons he hated water...

Water stopped his flames. They drowned them, beat them, made them submit. He hated water, just as much as Larxene. Even if he got his fire powers from the electric eel DNA in the first place, who was a dweller of the seas...

The water smoothed back his hair, and he stood there, shivering in the cold, looking up at those windows with narrowed eyes and clenched teeth, growling under his breath.

_"VIII, calm yourself."_

Like he was a little kid, or a disobedient dog. He was, kind of... but not like that. But still, not wanting the pain, he looked down. Flames cascaded across his body for a moment, drying himself. At least he wouldn't have to suffer periodic colds from all of that freezing water...

He felt the chip reactivating inside him, shutting the gate between him and his fire. He could hear the flames' cries to be let free, to cascade over those damned scientists, but he had... no choice, but to let them fade into his interior.

Perhaps tomorrow.

He shuffled into the cell room, just the other room, really, seeing that Xion, Namine, Roxas, Xemnas, Zexion, Luxord, and Lexaeus were done testing. They paid no notice to him, excluding Roxas, as he locked himself in his cell.


	3. Night and Oblivion

**Kay, here goes the last prewritten chapter.**

**Which means I need to go make the fourth chapter now kay thanks.**

**I was originally not going to bother continuing the story. But then I got a review. Thanks. ^^;**

**Yeah, I'm that kind of person who freaks out if she gets even one review. xP  
**

**

* * *

**

__-Day VIII-__

He'd decided to count the days, ever since he first flew.

His wings twitched with anxiety, wanting to spread themselves and fly away. Escape didn't matter to him, really... he just wanted to fly. Fly, fly fly!

He blinked away the thought. He needed to calm down. Testing was next, he could fly again... if they let him. He clenched his teeth. _Please, please let me fly after dinner!_

The sensation of flying was too much to be ignored, for Roxas. Golden eagles were born to fly, as was he. Right? Who knew, but he wanted to fly anyways. It was his obsession, his passion, his need-

He shot up, stimuli instantly pricking at his brain as the bell rang.

Tossing his tray at the garbage, and not caring if he missed, Roxas fluttered over to his testing room. He was the first one to stumble in, and looked up expectantly, waiting for the scientists to shut off his stun ring's option of shocking him if he flew too high.

But he heard no signifying clicking noise. Instead two muscular men came in and grabbed him by the arms. Roxas didn't bother struggling.

But where they took him was amazing.

Trees littered the area, and stars poked at the night skies. A full moon shone at great strength.

The guards let go of him, and he reached out, upwards, wings aching to spread and find themselves in the cloudless nothing. He had never seen the sky, let alone the night sky... amazing. It was as wonderful to him as flames were to Axel.

But he didn't dare fly. Not yet. Not until he was told, or he'd never fly again...

"What are you waiting for?" a guard grumbled. "Go on, fly. As long as you don't cross the border, you won't get shocked."

Roxas had already taken off by the middle of the guard's last word.

He couldn't help but giggle. Was this what it was like to be free? Free as an eagle, a bird, the little sparrow he was, tweeting and singing and humming in the air, satisfying his longing for the sky?

He tumbled through the nothingness like a gymnastic act, floating with it as if he were a cloud, cutting through the black-blue like a ship through the sea. Indeed, he could see the sea from here- a lighted blue place, waving at him, beckoning him over.

So he came. He swept his golden wings, knives through butter, sea blue eyes full of merriment calling to the ocean, messy blond hair flying back as well as his bangs. He did a quick 360, and continued flying until he was to the beach.

He had never heard the ocean before, but... it was so...

What was the word?

...familiar. Like he knew the sound like the back of his wing.

So he landed, the first time he landed by his own will. Mystified by the sea, he stepped forward, reaching out to it. Smiling to himself, he threaded his hand through the salty water, then brought it to his face and licked it.

Salty.

It would taste better if it was sweet as well.

Wait... how did he know about sweetness? He hadn't... really tasted anything sweet, nor had he ever heard of it. Perhaps... it was from his memories.

He slowly spread his wings. He wanted to stay here longer, but he also wanted to fly. He stood, trying to decide whether he should fly or listen to the sweet lullaby of the waves.

Nah. He would enjoy flying for now. He would come back here later, or tomorrow.

But he considered staying, again, as he spread his wings. If only he could fly over those waves... but freely. Not just... with a stun ring over his leg.

But he wouldn't dare leave the facility. Even though he was tested on, it was his only place to go. He already knew that this place was a forest-covered island, so small and insignificant that no one even knew it was there...

He shivered. Something about his bird genes told him that autumn was on the borderline tipping to winter. But his wolf genes was of the more northern variety, striving more for the arctic, so he knew he was somewhere in the middle of north and south. If he'd heard correctly, golden eagles lived in northern parts, and occasionally in Africa...

His eyes flicked to the sea, now turning a purplish color because of the night. It was setting in, and he wanted to fly a bit more before lights out, which was soon...

Roxas pedaled his wings slightly, then relaxed them. Giving one last longing glance at the ocean waves' peace, and freedom, he waved the feathery limbs goodbye and jumped up, swooping his wings a bit before tilting his body upwards and flying away.

He was a cloud- there was no other word describing it. And he never knew what the clouds were. Never saw one. It just came from his memory.

He glided over the trees, letting his arms hang, and allowing his fingers to brush against the treetops. Glee building up in his chest, his wings slowly stiffened, yet relaxed at the same time... so he didn't have to flap them, despite the fact that he was heavier to his wings as a human, than a bird to its wings.

But he was an eagle, and he was good at this, after some practice. He could close his eyes and imagine his own music, even if the only music he really heard before was his own. But music was magical. A twinge of a memory touched him, of humming to himself as he steadily walked down to a familiar beach, dreaming of the sunset...

Tears threatened to overflow, but they weren't severely needed, to be released...

So he held them back.

A whistle sounded, and he all but knew that it meant for him to come back. A scientist's red, rushed face greeted him as he landed, instantly whipping out a notepad and a pen.

"S-so, XIII, have you... did that trigger anything?" he said, a gasp in his breath. He was obviously physically unfit, a bit chubby at the sides, and it was evidential that he had taken a long run here, probably in a rush.

Those were Roxas's scanning guesses.

Roxas tilted his head, eyes dumbfounded. He was intelligent, much more than before he flew, though he promptly acted that he was still an idiot, just for the sake of it. Maybe he simply wanted to tease those scientists?

The scientist sighed. "I swear, you're worse than the new girl. She's practically a doll." Then he blinked, realizing again why he was in a rush in the first place. "Oh! It's light's out in five minutes- go to your cell." He tucked away he empty notepad, and strolled off, not bothering to check if the boy was listening to his command or not.

Roxas tilted his head, to the other side. _Go to your cell. _Two thoughts accompanied those words- of how common they were, and how _go to your room_ or _go to bed_ would be so much more comforting.

Alas, he stepped through the door to the inside and walked to the room where the other Organization experiments slept. The light was on dim, about to be turned off, so he scurried to his cell and sat in the corner.

He let out a deep sigh, then grabbed his blanket; a close winter meant close cold. The blanket was pure black, like the uniform clothes he wore. Speaking of the clothes- they were specially fitted for each experiment, and had their number on it. Not including Namine. She wore a white sundress.

Of course, for winged experiments, there was slits for their wings, and for experiments with tails, slits for those...

XIII closed his eyes. A lullaby, gently sung by his mother, if that was his mother, played like a recording through his head, as the gentle lapping of waves echoed along with it...

_There is a castle on a cloud..._

--

Her eyes were wide in a panic.

Who was this girl? She had seen her at mealtimes, but never paid actual attention to her. All she did was eat... sleep... drink. Basic needs... right?

She hadn't really _thought_ before now.

"Xion?" the girl with the pretty white dove wings tilted her head. "Are you... awake?"

She didn't respond, but recognized the name. They called her that. Those scientists. Right? She looked up at the other girl, eyes wide and equal to hers, ebony wings trembling at her sides. Did that other girl with wings make her think? She longed to go back to her oblivion, where all she had to do was float and dream.

"Don't be scared," the white-winged girl sighed. "I'm Namine."

Xion froze, then slowly but surely, nodded. She stopped trembling. She looked around, cautiously, as if something might jump from the shadows of the pure white room. All this white dizzied her, and she wanted to return to her cell and fall asleep.

"They made me make you do this. To actually wake up. There's no way I can send you back into your oblivion now," Namine whispered. She was lying. They... didn't even know that she was doing this at all.

Xion blinked, then looked down. Her eyes said one thing: she wanted to go back to sleep. Regular sleep, at least.

"Oh, you can go to bed now. If you're awake." Namine looked down. "I don't know if this is good or not... the fact that you're truly awake now."

Xion did not marvel over what the girl meant by 'awake'. She looked over her, seeing that she wore a short white dress and was clutching a drawing pad with a pencil fixed in the rings.

So she stood on her own, and nodded to Namine, not speaking. Her blue eyes fixed their gaze on a doorknob, or what she remembered it was, and she went over to the door, and clutched the doorknob, turning it so that it opened the passageway.

It was so easy, such an every-day thing, like blinking... but yet, so foreign.

Namine watched the other girl as she stumbled out the door and into the room of cells. Sighing as she closed her door, she went to her _white_ bed and lay on top of it, pulling the _white_ covers over her _white_ dress and the _white_ mattress.

Sometimes having everything white was annoying.

But, beggars couldn't be choosers.

So she closed her eyes, picturing Xion as she wrapped her own black blanket around her, then thinking about the other Organization members- the other experiments, like her, one by one. Her mind sighed a silent prayer, a quiet ode to dreamed-up freedom.

_I pray for the freedom I'll never have_

_The freedom so far off _

_All I can do is dream a laugh_

_And battle out a scoff_

_But hope is something I do keep_

_Imagination free_

_So at those nights when I must weep_

_Through other eyes I see..._

--

A grin, a black blindfold.

He could see through it, but they could not.

If they didn't see his eyes, they couldn't see him.

Then he took a step back.

It wasn't the right time.

He would come back in a week... or so.

Then he would do it.


End file.
